28Then the big boss said, “I’m a Roman too. I paid a lot of money for them to write my name in the book in a Roman office, so now I’m a Roman.” Paul said, “I’ve been a Roman all my life. They wrote my name in that book as soon as I was born.”
29Those soldiers were going to whip Paul, but they heard him say he was a Roman, so they left him. The big boss was frightened too. He remembered that he told the soldiers to tie Paul’s arms and whip him, and it was against the law for him to do that to a Roman.
30The big boss of the soldiers still wanted to know why the Jews were blaming Paul, so the next day he told the bosses of the Jewish ceremonies, and the other Jewish council men, to have a meeting. Then he took Paul to that meeting and took his chains off, and told him to stand up in front of them, to listen to what they say, and to tell his story to answer them.